Despite the recent interest in adopting HTML5's video tag, there is still one major problem: there is no mandated standard video codec for the video tag. The two main contestants are the proprietary and patended h264, and the open and free Theora. In a comment on an LWN.net article about this problematic situation, LWN reader Trelane posted an email exchange he had with MPEG-LA, which should further cement Theora as the obvious choice.

It is not about proving that H.264 does not tred on someone's patents, it is the fact that MPEG-LA has a giant patent catalog with many many many very large companies behind it. The likelihood that they do infringe on a patent is very small and it is ever a smaller chance that if they do, someone will go after them for anything but a settlement.